Somerset School Committee divided on merits of internal deficit investigation

A $150,000 difference between town and school budgets not fixed until May, the use of next year’s funds to pay bills and payroll in fiscal year 2013, and budget lines being added and dropped to create artificial deficits and surpluses were among conclusions of an investigative report delivered Monday night to the Som...

A $150,000 difference between town and school budgets not fixed until May, the use of next year’s funds to pay bills and payroll in fiscal year 2013, and budget lines being added and dropped to create artificial deficits and surpluses were among conclusions of an investigative report delivered Monday night to the Somerset School Committee.

Robert Murray, the interim special education director — until later that night, when he resigned during an explosive committee meeting — interviewed eight school officials to compile a 60-page report.

In his oral presentation, he said he spent a total of 46 hours, voluntarily and without pay, in what was called an internal fact-finding mission, independent of Superintendent Richard Medeiros, to uncover causes of a fiscal 2013 deficit estimated two weeks ago at $250,000, but suspected for weeks before that.

On Monday night, Medeiros updated the amount to $273,164.98 for the year ending June 30.

Murray, an educator and administrator for nearly 40 years, mostly in Taunton, and hired to work part-time in Somerset in March after two years in Berkley, recommended the School Committee form a finance subcommittee to conduct budget oversight and provide accountability.

He spent about 3½ hours in two days interviewing key financial, administrative and payroll employees, starting two days after Director of Business Marc Furtado announced the sudden deficit.

Furtado had largely attributed the deficit to account reversals in substitute pay and special education transportation budgets, as well as systemic financial problems and inconsistencies he said has existed for years.

“It appears that the business manager did his utmost to address a growing financial situation. Yet, after repeated attempts, he was unable to resolve or correct this many-faceted problem,” Murray wrote in a two-page summary.

“It also appears that as time progressed, the suggestions for resolution become more convoluted and concerning,” Murray wrote in a series of conclusions that tended to be in general terms.

He parsed out responsibility first to Furtado as business manager, the person holding “the majority of responsibility due to the nature of his position.”

Murray interviewed him first, on the morning of July 25, the same day Medeiros later placed Furtado on paid administrative leave from the kindergarten to Grade 8 district (he continues to work for the regional district).

Briefly assigning other responsibilities, Murray said Medeiros “would share some of this responsibility, not as a result of his actions or lack thereof, but by his position alone.”

He cited the School Committee and “town officials” as having “some responsibility’ in their leadership positions.

• The use of an early childhood revolving account to pay fiscal 2013 salaries.

Murray said he completed his report at 2 a.m. on Monday morning to meet the school board’s deadline, set the previous week. Committee members received electronic copies around 12:30 p.m., and most said they read it once and planned to follow Murray’s advice to re-read it.

Committee member Donald Rebello, who on Monday night resigned as chairman in protest of the committee placing Medeiros on administrative leave while seeking an “external investigation,” said he’d done a cursory read of the report. But he was impressed.

Machado said staff members, in the interviews Murray conducted, said, “I wasn’t aware of this” or “my co-worker would never do this.” He said that was why the School Committee has responsibility “to investigate how this happened, not only this year but how it was allowed to happen over a number of years.”

Rothwell said she didn’t detect “drilling” during interviews, and thought the 30-minute interview with Furtado might have been too short.

“We still need to interview you,” Souza told Murray.

“I welcome the opportunity,” Murray replied.

Vice Chairman Robert Camara, now the acting chairman, noted the “huge numbers” shifted throughout the budget. “We made a budget and we didn’t stick to the budget. That’s clearly an issue,” he said.

“This report is only opinions. I can’t find out how to correct our mistakes in this report,” Machado concluded.

Rebello disagreed. “I think the report is more than opinions. I think it’s a good report,” he said, adding that committee members need more time “to digest it.”